Morgan Stanley chair, CEO to retire

? While embattled Morgan Stanley Chairman and Chief Executive Philip J. Purcell plans to leave Morgan Stanley by early next year, he still has a lengthy and difficult agenda to complete: halting a stream of high-level resignations, reversing a new earnings disappointment and silencing the criticism that led to his own departure.

Acknowledging that calls for his ouster and the exodus of employees have hurt the venerable Wall Street investment bank, Purcell said Monday he would retire as soon as a successor could be found, but no later than the company’s annual shareholder meeting in March.

News of Purcell’s planned retirement came three days after nine stock traders quit, the latest in a string of Morgan Stanley executives dissatisfied enough with the chairman’s management style to leave.